TRAVEL

Airlines of the World
A huge list of international airlines, with links to their web sites. A bit uneven, with some very small airlines you may not have heard of, but omitting some rather large airlines as well (like Spain's Iberia airlines). 2-05

American Airlines
A user-friendly, quick and pretty page, the AA site offers concise tools to book reservations, check account information, see prominently displayed Special Fare offers, or view travel news.

Cheapflights.com
Here's another option for exploring and booking air travel, online since 1996 (in the US since 2003). Although it may seem familiar, this site has some unique features in terms of search options as well as travel tips by destination. The emphasis is on finding low fares for city-to-city air travel, but one can also price and book hotels. Also there are 'staff picks': packages reminiscent of traditional travel agency offerings with a diversity of choices similar to travel consolidators/aggregators.

CheapTickets.com
In business since 1986, this company is not just "fly-by-night". (Sorry!)
Lately they've been putting a lot of money into advertising and are trying hard to please. As opposed to horror stories I hear about Priceline.com, I've heard only good things about customers' experiences here. They produced the best car-rental prices for me.

Continental Airlines (United)
One of the U.S.'s largest airlines with one of the most widely used frequent-flyer mileage programs. Now merged with United. Flies some unique non-stop routes in the U.S. and between Europe and the U.S. The homepage offers easy reservations, and several nice benefits such as seat assignments, extra miles and special prices for online booking.

Expedia.com
Along with Travelocity, one of the major independent players in online travel. Comparable to Travelocity and Hotels.com in terms of being easy, quick, and efficient. User-friendly site allows for custom-building vacation packages including air, hotel, rental cars, and pre-paid tourist attractions.

Global Network Tours
This NYC-based travel consolidator (aka Air Supply) features terrific airfare bargains to places like Paris, Amsterdam, and Katmandu. I flew with them in 1997 (Holland), via Singapore Air. Great experience.

Kayak.com
Top pick of Laptop Magazine (August 2007), for last-minute business travel. Kayak is one of several large "aggregators" of
airline seats, able to offer airline seats same-day, often at steep discounts.
[Prices may vary between similar aggregators. For
comparison, see also Mobissimo and BookingBuddy.]

Lufthansa
In these tough times for air travel, Americans looking for European travel bargains can sometimes find special deals from the
European airlines, directly. Lufthansa, which is relatively strong economically, still needs to get its planes to and from America
with full seats, and thus they offer some nice deals. A useful page to check is their Top Offers page, where short-term
web specials can be found in time to grab them. They also have a user-friendly We Fly Home page listing many countries they fly to,
encouraging family-get-togethers to and within Europe. "Very useful in planning custom-made trips around Europe." (6/08)

Malev.com
Malev is the official Hungarian Airlines and also offers some of the best routes and fares within Central and Eastern Europe.

Orbitz.com
This is said to provide an alternative to Travelocity and Expedia, affiliated more closely with the transportation providers themselves. My experience: sometimes better, sometimes worse. Also note that the airlines themselves are now offering un-annnounced special promotional fares on their own websites, sometimes at better rates than can be found through 3rd parties.

Priceline.com
In the early 00's, Priceline became the popular "Ebay of Travel Bargains" as it offered travelers the opportunity to bid against the lowest prices offered by airlines and hotels, often benefiting the industry and offering flexible travelers great prices. In 2005 PriceLine began promoting its key role in helping consumers find the best of the new cut-price fares while driving competition and new pricing schemes in the travel industry.

Travelocity
One of the best-known online travel services, Travelocity allows access to the SABRE system used by travel agents and airlines. The easiest way to book your own flights after comparing prices, carriers and times. Travelocity now offers complete trip packaging - hotels, rental cars, and excursions - similar to Expedia. Compare. Be your own travel agent! It's worked for me. :)

TravelZoo
Self-described as "a travel channel through which 180+ travel companies broadcast their latest sales, specials, and promotions." (7/02) There may be some good deals here for air travel, cruises, hotels, and land travel. (Hopefully it's not really a zoo!)

Asia

Asia DiscoveryA good starting place for information about Asian destinations, including travel, culture, geography, history, tourist attractins, etc. Easy reference to major countries and cities as well as a portal to booking travel and accommodations.

Worldflicks Wiki: Google Maps of PragueHere's an easy way to see satellite/terrain/hybrid maps & images of Prague, via Google Maps. What caught my attention was the incredible interactive map of Petrin Hill, but one can find not only Prague, but literally the entire earth, including maps and photographs, via this site.

France

ParisFrance.com
Here is a new and vibrant page about - what else? - Paris, France! While primarily a 'hotel and vacation guide' (with tools for finding hotels, hostels, restaurants, etc.) there is a wealth of useful and interesting information on Paris here. Quelle vie!

The Paris PagesA collection of everything regarding the "City of Light". Tres bien!

Holland (Netherlands)

Amsterdam Hot Spots
Featuring hot tips and hot links, web cams and forums, this site covers many aspects of daily life in Amsterdam, from public transportation to nightlife.

Bookings.NL [English]
One of the best hotel search tools for Netherlands, with real-time inventory and locally provided hotel descriptions. "Since 1996 BOOKINGS offers the best choice of hotels and room rates in Europe. Coverage ranges from small family hotels, chain hotels, airport hotels, highway hotels, luxury hotels to low budget hotels in all the major cities of the world as well as the popular areas across Europe." (Source) No user reviews like Expedia, but more information on some of the smaller independent hotels.

The Internet Guide to Amsterdam
A terrific site, this is the ultimate guide to Amsterdam,
"Designed to be printed out and taken with you". I did! See the next link!

Zaanse Schans
A virtual tour of this beautiful and historic village, with its windmills, zaanland houses, and working shoppes. From the Zaanse Schans Information Centre, NL

Hotel Guides & Online Reservations

Elderhostel
Homepage of this nonprofit organization which arranges economical and educational travel for those over 55.

Fodor's Travel Guide
This well-known travel guide now offers
a wonderful web site full of travel tips, personal trip planning, and best of all, an online version of Fodor's Hotel Index,
with opinionated and useful restaurant and hotel reviews of establishments worldwide.

Hotels.com
This is a terrific tool, doing for the hotel seeker what the Sabre-system does for air travel seekers. Hotels.com easily and efficiently produces a menu of available hotel rooms worldwide, often with posted discounts and offering useful thumbnail descriptions. Used by the travel and airline industries (who may guarantee "lowest prices"), Hotels.com finds the same best-prices as other major travel reseller, plus or minus a Euro or two, and is reputable, user-friendly to use, and worth a try.

Strongly recommended: Compare against Bookings.com when seeking lodging in Europe. (See full description under Holland/NL)

TIP: If planes and rental cars are a big part of your itinerary, check out complete packages on Expedia and Travelocity.
Expedia has now partnered with Citicorp and all travel purchases booked on Expedia now earn Citi "ThankYou" points.

Le Meridien Hotels Formerly partners with Forte (whose websites have all gone dead), these are some of the most well-known and consistently quality hotels and resorts throughout Europe. Briefly also in partnership with the Nikko/JAL chain, another group of
luxurious properties.

TripAdvisor
Recommended for last-minute travelers as well as comparison shopping in advance, TripAdvisor offers hotel reviews and a mega-search engine which
provides pricing at the moment as advertised on Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc.
[See also Laterooms for European hotels, and AsiaTravel for rooms in Asia.]

India

India Tours (Bharatonline.com)
This site offers not only a useful interface through which one can make travel arrangements, but also provides a wealth of information and photography pertaining to Indian life, geography, and culture. From historic and religious monuments to the Himilayas, from ancient caves and gardens to the cities, beaches & eucalyptus woods.

Ireland

Dingle Peninsula Guide
A terrific site with "lots to offer on all things Irish". Features a fascinating close-up of the Dingle Peninsula, from dolphin cruises to information on local archeology and weather, a hostel guide, listings of local activities, maps, awesome photography, and suggestions for exploring the area's offerings.

Italy

Windows on ItalyR.I.P. 2003 :-(

Middle East

MideastTravel Net - Excellent site - gone summer 2007 :-(

Virtual Jerusalem
An online community (with free membership) which explores all aspects of life in this Holy city. History, Religion, News, Games and Travel Tips. Also includes links for local shopping, television and radio, as well as listings of Holiday events.

Practical Travel Tips

World Electric GuideAfter some effort at finding information about several countrys' electrical voltage and outlet types,
I found this wonderful site which addresses both local voltage and outlet types, a good thing to know before trying to plug in battery
rechargers or computers. This has it all in one place, obviously a labor of love, and a very useful resource. "Know before you go!"

Smorgasbord: The Shortcut to Sweden"The Sweden Information Smorgasbord is the web's largest single source of info in English on Sweden, Swedish provinces, nature, culture, lifestyle, society and industry and has been rated 8/10 by Internet World - Sweden." (Source)
Includes a map and all sorts of useful information.

Spain (España)

Asturias
(en Español) Photos and information about the beautiful Asturias region with majestic mountains and beautiful ocean.
ESflamanco.com
For passionate fans (and performers) of flamenco, Andalusian singing, dancing, music and gypsy culture, here you can find reports about concerts, interviews and recordings of such legends as Paco de Lucía, Tomatito, Farruquito, and Camarón. Feature stories about flamenco experiences around the world, tips on how to play the castanets, and a virtual shopping mall full of DVD's, dancing clothes, box-drums and probably everything else on earth related to flamenco. In English and Español.

Pontedeume
One of the most scenic and historically rich municipalities in Spain, with old stone bridges and beautiful vistas. EnEspañol [Galician], but even if you cannot understand, there are some beautiful photographs here.

Spain: Photography
A large and beautiful collection of images from all parts of Spain, from Galicia to Madrid, LaMancha, Granada, San Sebastian, País Vasco and many more historical and interesting places.

Turkish Odyssey is an excellent guide, with photography and history. In the Marmara section there is a very nice description and history of the great Süleymaniye Mosque. Arabul.com is a colorful, popular site, in the Turkish Language.
IBB has a large collection of black & white and color photography of Istanbul.

USA

California

Florida

Mote Marine Laboratory
Mote Marine has been a longtime attraction (since 1955) on Florida's Gulf Coast, on City Island (near Sarasota and Siesta Key). While they sponsor research, conservancy and rescue projects, the public can visit their public 'aquarium', which features not only all varieties of mostly-tropical fish, but also an illuminated jellyfish tank, hands-on water petting exhibits, some huge animals (like a giant squid), plus some outdoor bird exhibits and special events.